It amazes me how different 2 birth stories can be - both from the same mother. Easton's story is definitely different than Abbi's story was!!
I had been having contractions with Easton for months. So of course, every time I went in for a doctor's appointment, I assumed that I had progressed a lot farther. But, as we know, for 3 weeks in a row, I was only at a 2 and 70% effaced. I kept saying that I didn't really know how to tell when I was in labor - just because I had been having so many contractions. There were several times that the contractions would be regular, but they would always end up going away.
Well, Monday the 7th rolled around. All day long, I had been having contractions that were regular, getting closer together, and getting consistently stronger. When Josh got home for lunch, I told him that it might be the day, but not to get his hopes up. The contractions were a bit painful - about as painful as they were with Abbi when I went to the hospital - but I had just put Abbi down for a nap. I told him that if they kept it up, when Abbi got up from her nap we would head to the hospital. And if they got better, we would wait it out.
Abbi woke up, and they weren't any better. I decided that it was time to head to the hospital. We packed a few things and headed up to drop Abbi off at the in-laws, then over to the hospital. I was really excited and anxious to meet my little boy! Once we were at the hospital, the nurse came in to check me. She said that the cervix is like the end of a balloon, at at the bottom, I was about a 2 1/2, but at the top I was only a 1 1/2. Talk about a disappointment!! They had me hooked up to the monitors and said they'd watch me for an hour and see if I progressed anymore at that point. My mom and dad came up sometime during that hour, and my mom was wonderful in helping me through the contractions and helping me visualize. The whole time I was at the hospital, my contractions were pretty regular at 3 minutes apart, and we were all sure this was the day.
One hour later, the nurse came back in. No progression - still dialated the same. She said she would call the on-call doctor to see what he wanted to do. (My doctor was off that day - go figure!!) I should also mention that I was not at all impressed by this nurse. Not only did she hurt me when she checked me, but she wasn't friendly at all. I felt like she was withholding information from me and only telling me the minimum. A few minutes later, she came back and said that they could give me something for the pain, but the doctor said to release me. I was so disappointed. And in pain. None of us could believe it. I asked her how I was supposed to know when to come back in if my contractions were already so regular and close together, but all she told me was if my water broke, if I started bleeding, or if they got so bad that I couldn't walk or talk during a contraction. The funny thing is that as I walked out to leave, I had a contraction and had to stop. The nurse came over to see if I wanted a wheelchair - I just wanted to say - see? They do hurt too bad to walk through!!
We went down to the main floor of the hospital and my mom and I walked a few laps, seeing if it would move things along. Then I decided it was just time to go home. That whole night, I had contractions, but it wasn't quite as painful - I'm guessing because of the pain pill they gave me. They slowed down to about 10 minutes apart, but I was still waken a few times during the night because of the pain. The next morning, I packed Abbi up and we headed to the mall so I could walk and see if we could get this baby coming. I went around once then had to sit down while I let Abbi play at in the play area for awhile. I was in so much pain. I did another lap, and almost didn't make it because I was hurting so badly. So we went home. I had contractions all day long. They were getting consistently more painful, but they weren't as close together as they were the day before. I didn't know what to do because I didn't want to go to the hospital just to get sent home again. My next doctors appointment was on Thursday, so I thought if I could just make it through until then, then I would talk to him about induction because I was so uncomfortable and in so much pain. That evening was bad, and it just kept getting worse. The contractions were so bad that they made me cry a few times. I tried to go to bed around 9pm, and I was so exhausted that I would fall asleep, but every contraction would wake me up. I was timing them, and by now, they were every 4 to 10 minutes. Finally, at around probably 10:30, I told Josh that I was going to call my mom because I was in so much pain and I didn't know what to do. She suggested that I call the doctor and ask them, because she didn't know either. The fact that I was sent home the day before had thrown us all off!! I called the doctor's answering service, and they said that for the sake of mine and the baby's health, I should at least go to the hospital and get checked out.
After a call to Josh's mom, who said she would come over and stay with Abbi if we needed to go to the hospital, we packed up bags once again. She got to our house at about 11:30 and we headed for the hospital. I was in the most pain that I had ever been in in my life. Every contraction killed me, and I couldn't move. We walked into the hospital lobby, and it must have shown on my face how much pain I was in because the security guard at the desk immediately asked if I needed a wheelchair. I declined and said I just wanted to get to L&D. He said he'd call up and let them know to let us in. Up the elevator we went, and when we walked into L&D, they immediately put us in a room. I changed into the gown, and the nurse came into check me. I was ecstatic when she told me - "yep, you're having a baby tonight. You are at a 6 1/2-7!" I immediately called my mom and told her to get to the hospital!
The nurse took us to a delivery room where they hooked me up to an IV and all the monitors and such. They asked if I wanted an epidural, and I told them YES!! The anesthesiologist was in in no time, and I was in heaven as I felt that coldness go down my legs! (I do have to say, though, just to toot my own horn - the nurses said that they were amazed at how calm I was an how well I handled the contractions!) Once I had the epidural, the nurse called the doctor - which I totally lucked out because my doctor was on call that night! When he got there to check me, I was at an 8 1/2.
At about 2:15, the nurse came in to check me again and said I was at a 9 1/2 - 10. She said that if I thought I could push really well, she'd call the doctor in. I said to bring him in! I started pushing at about 2:40 and said that I would have him by 3am. Sure enough, at 2:56am, he joined us here on earth! With Abbi's birth, I didn't feel a thing, the epidural worked so well, but with Easton, I actually liked it better, because while I still felt no pain, I actually felt when he was born.
Easton Michael
born March 9th at 2:56am
8 lbs. 6 oz.
20 inches long
We couldn't be more in love with our little guy. He is perfect in every way. We are so excited to have him in our lives and can't wait to see what the future brings!
